so_out_of_ideas (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
so_out_of_ideas) wrote2006-07-12 10:04 pm
so_out_of_ideas) wrote2006-07-12 10:04 pm
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I'm on this kick at the moment for very simple textless icons. I have a couple methods I've been using, but this is one of my favorites, so I thought I'd share. It combines some techniques I learmed from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
severa and aiken_4graphics with some other stuff I've just sort of worked out myself.
We'll be going from this to
This is a PSP 8 Tutorial. Should translate into other versions of the program; I'm not really sure about other software, sorry.
*Image and texture credits can be found in my resource post.
Tutorial 11: Supergirl
Step 1: Choose an image and resize/crop to 100x100. As in my previous tutorial, I still get questions on this, so I'm going to include an explanation. For those who don't require it, scroll on down to step 2.
-- With your image open, go to File>New and open a new blank image, 100x100. Then go back to your original picture, click on the layer in your layer palette and drag from the layer palette onto the blank base. Now go to Image> resize and set it to anything between 75-20 percent, depending on the image. Make sure the box that says "resize all layers is not checked. Click OK and voila! Magic! If it's too big or too small, just undo and mess with it until you get what you like. For the Supergirl pic, this time I used 50 %. Then just use your move tool to slide the image over to where you want it.--
Step 2: Sharpen the base.
--Image>adust>sharpness>sharpen. Only once Sometimes you can get away with twice. If I find a base still blurry, I duplicate the layer, then sharpen the duplicate. This way, if it's too sharp, I can just lower the opacity.
Step 3: Subtle Adjustments
--Merge visible layers and duplicate again. The reason I duplicate layers at this point is so that my original base is still there if I mess something up too badly to fix by using undo.
--Make sure the duplicate layer is selected. We will be making four relatively simple adjustments, but they can have a wide range of effects given the lighting and quality of the image to start with, so feel free to play with the settings as you need them.
--Adjust>Brightness and Contrast>Automatic Contrast Enhnacement: Bias=Darker, Strength=Normal, Appearance="Bold"
--Adjust>Color Balance>Fade Correction: Amount of Correction= 7
--Adjust>Brightness and Contrast>Clarify: Strenght of effect= 7
--Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Automatic Saturation Enhancement: Bias=Normal, Strength=Normal, Skintones present checked.
You should now have something like:
Step 4: Duplicate the layer three times.
--Set the first two to screen at 100%
--Set the third to soft light at 78.
The opacity on all of these will vary a lot depending on the image but these are the settings I used for Supergirl. Just play around until you get what you like.
You should now have something like this:
Step 5: I don't always do this, but for this image, it seemed like Supergirl's face was a bit too white, so on the second screen layer, I took my eraser tool with a circular brush about size five, hardness 40, and faded her face until I had the coloring the way I thought it looked best.
Step 6: Copy Merged and paste as a new layer under the soft light layer. There's only a slight difference, but here's an example of the step.
Step 7: The icon looks pretty good, but I wanted the colors to be more dramatic, so I increased the saturation.
Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Hue/Saturation/Lightness. Push the slider all the way up to 100. I'm serious. Yes, it will look strange.
Step 8: Apply a Gaussian blur
Adjust>Blur>Gaussian Blur with a radius of about 4.
Set the blurred layer to overlay at about 82%,
Then apply the eraser again to take out any parts that still look too red, and you're done!
And one more because I've been bored tonight. This is rather a long one. One of these days, I promise to do an icon that doesn't use the Gaussian blur trick. But it won't be today. Mwhahaha. I really love the following icon, and the funny thing was (I'm willing to admit) I didn't set out for this look at all. Given that it happens to also be one of my top 5 all time favorite images, I can't help but make a tutorial. The tut will be in three parts. First will be the making of the texture base; second will be the coloring on the image itself, and third will be the layering that combines them for the neat color effect on the icon. There may be an easier way to do this icon, but this is how I did it. Suggestions are, of course, welcome.
The image prep is actually quite similar to the last GIMP tutorial I did, which was an icon from the same post as this one.
We'll be going from this to
This is a PSP 8 Tutorial but should be fairly translatable.
*Image and texture credits can be found in my resource post.
Tutorial 12: This Kiss
Part I
The textures
Open a new, blank 100x100 base. Copy and paste the following textures each onto a new layer each on top of the previous one, using the layer settings indicated.
1.
Normal at 100%. Simple.
2.
Burn at 100%.
3.
Color Legacy at 100%. Move this texture down and to the left, so that only the bottom 2/3 is visible on the base, with a small gap on the right side where what is underneath shows through.
The text brush
-Add a new layer between the burn layer and the Color Legacy Layer (the top two textures).
Apply this brush in black on the bottom right.
-Add a second layer and repeat the brush in white on the top left.
You should now have something like:
Save the file, but leave it open. Do Not Merge your layers or flatten.
Part II
Step 1: Choose an image and resize/crop to 100x100. As in my previous tutorial, I still get questions on this, so I'm going to include an explanation. For those who don't require it, scroll on down to step 2.
-- With your image open, go to File>New and open a new blank image, 100x100. Then go back to your original picture, click on the layer in your layer palette and drag from the layer palette onto the blank base. Now go to Image> resize and set it to anything between 75-20 percent, depending on the image. Make sure the box that says "resize all layers is not checked. Click OK and voila! Magic! If it's too big or too small, just undo and mess with it until you get what you like. For the kiss pic, this time I used 75 percent. Then just use your move tool to slide the image over to where you want it.--
Step 2: Unsharp Mask.
Duplicate the base layer. Technically you don't have to, but I always make changes on another layer or use adjustment layers in case I mess something up too much to correct with undo.
--Image>adust>sharpness>unsharp mask with these settings.
Radius: 5
Strength: 50
Clipping: 21
If it still doesn't look quite right, play with the settings or try duplicating again, sharpening and lowering the opacity somewhat. You should end with something like:
Step 3: Add this gradient (it was a PSP gradient, which I saved as a .png for the tutorial. You can just copy-paste it as a new layer, similar to using a texture.
Set to soft light at 100%.
You should now have something like this:
Step 4: The blur: (Aka, my favorite thing. lol.)
Copy merged and paste as a new layer. On the new layer, apply a Gaussian Blur.
--Adjust>Blur>Gaussian Blur--
Depending on the image and how much of a glowy thing you want, you can use a radius of anywhere from 2-15. I think mine was set about 2 or 3 for this. You should get something very pretty like this:
Part II
Ready to form Voltron!…um…never mind.
Step 1: Copy Merged on the image you just prepped.
Step 2: On the texture base you created earlier, go to your layer palette and highlight the bottomlayer. Now paste as a new layer so the picture ends up between the bottom texture and the one above it. You should now have this, which I happen to think is quite a lovely icon on its own:
.
Step 7 Resize the image to 70 %. If it needs to be sharpened, do so, and you're done.
severa and aiken_4graphics with some other stuff I've just sort of worked out myself.We'll be going from this to
This is a PSP 8 Tutorial. Should translate into other versions of the program; I'm not really sure about other software, sorry.
*Image and texture credits can be found in my resource post.
Step 1: Choose an image and resize/crop to 100x100. As in my previous tutorial, I still get questions on this, so I'm going to include an explanation. For those who don't require it, scroll on down to step 2.
-- With your image open, go to File>New and open a new blank image, 100x100. Then go back to your original picture, click on the layer in your layer palette and drag from the layer palette onto the blank base. Now go to Image> resize and set it to anything between 75-20 percent, depending on the image. Make sure the box that says "resize all layers is not checked. Click OK and voila! Magic! If it's too big or too small, just undo and mess with it until you get what you like. For the Supergirl pic, this time I used 50 %. Then just use your move tool to slide the image over to where you want it.--
Step 2: Sharpen the base.
--Image>adust>sharpness>sharpen. Only once Sometimes you can get away with twice. If I find a base still blurry, I duplicate the layer, then sharpen the duplicate. This way, if it's too sharp, I can just lower the opacity.
Step 3: Subtle Adjustments
--Merge visible layers and duplicate again. The reason I duplicate layers at this point is so that my original base is still there if I mess something up too badly to fix by using undo.
--Make sure the duplicate layer is selected. We will be making four relatively simple adjustments, but they can have a wide range of effects given the lighting and quality of the image to start with, so feel free to play with the settings as you need them.
--Adjust>Brightness and Contrast>Automatic Contrast Enhnacement: Bias=Darker, Strength=Normal, Appearance="Bold"
--Adjust>Color Balance>Fade Correction: Amount of Correction= 7
--Adjust>Brightness and Contrast>Clarify: Strenght of effect= 7
--Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Automatic Saturation Enhancement: Bias=Normal, Strength=Normal, Skintones present checked.
You should now have something like:
Step 4: Duplicate the layer three times.
--Set the first two to screen at 100%
--Set the third to soft light at 78.
The opacity on all of these will vary a lot depending on the image but these are the settings I used for Supergirl. Just play around until you get what you like.
You should now have something like this:
Step 5: I don't always do this, but for this image, it seemed like Supergirl's face was a bit too white, so on the second screen layer, I took my eraser tool with a circular brush about size five, hardness 40, and faded her face until I had the coloring the way I thought it looked best.
Step 6: Copy Merged and paste as a new layer under the soft light layer. There's only a slight difference, but here's an example of the step.
Step 7: The icon looks pretty good, but I wanted the colors to be more dramatic, so I increased the saturation.
Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Hue/Saturation/Lightness. Push the slider all the way up to 100. I'm serious. Yes, it will look strange.
Step 8: Apply a Gaussian blur
Adjust>Blur>Gaussian Blur with a radius of about 4.
Set the blurred layer to overlay at about 82%,
Then apply the eraser again to take out any parts that still look too red, and you're done!
And one more because I've been bored tonight. This is rather a long one. One of these days, I promise to do an icon that doesn't use the Gaussian blur trick. But it won't be today. Mwhahaha. I really love the following icon, and the funny thing was (I'm willing to admit) I didn't set out for this look at all. Given that it happens to also be one of my top 5 all time favorite images, I can't help but make a tutorial. The tut will be in three parts. First will be the making of the texture base; second will be the coloring on the image itself, and third will be the layering that combines them for the neat color effect on the icon. There may be an easier way to do this icon, but this is how I did it. Suggestions are, of course, welcome.
The image prep is actually quite similar to the last GIMP tutorial I did, which was an icon from the same post as this one.
We'll be going from this to
This is a PSP 8 Tutorial but should be fairly translatable.
*Image and texture credits can be found in my resource post.
Part I
The textures
Open a new, blank 100x100 base. Copy and paste the following textures each onto a new layer each on top of the previous one, using the layer settings indicated.
1.
Normal at 100%. Simple.2.
Burn at 100%.3.
Color Legacy at 100%. Move this texture down and to the left, so that only the bottom 2/3 is visible on the base, with a small gap on the right side where what is underneath shows through.The text brush
-Add a new layer between the burn layer and the Color Legacy Layer (the top two textures).
Apply this brush in black on the bottom right.-Add a second layer and repeat the brush in white on the top left.
You should now have something like:
Save the file, but leave it open. Do Not Merge your layers or flatten.
Part II
Step 1: Choose an image and resize/crop to 100x100. As in my previous tutorial, I still get questions on this, so I'm going to include an explanation. For those who don't require it, scroll on down to step 2.
-- With your image open, go to File>New and open a new blank image, 100x100. Then go back to your original picture, click on the layer in your layer palette and drag from the layer palette onto the blank base. Now go to Image> resize and set it to anything between 75-20 percent, depending on the image. Make sure the box that says "resize all layers is not checked. Click OK and voila! Magic! If it's too big or too small, just undo and mess with it until you get what you like. For the kiss pic, this time I used 75 percent. Then just use your move tool to slide the image over to where you want it.--
Step 2: Unsharp Mask.
Duplicate the base layer. Technically you don't have to, but I always make changes on another layer or use adjustment layers in case I mess something up too much to correct with undo.
--Image>adust>sharpness>unsharp mask with these settings.
Radius: 5
Strength: 50
Clipping: 21
If it still doesn't look quite right, play with the settings or try duplicating again, sharpening and lowering the opacity somewhat. You should end with something like:
Step 3: Add this gradient (it was a PSP gradient, which I saved as a .png for the tutorial. You can just copy-paste it as a new layer, similar to using a texture.
Set to soft light at 100%.You should now have something like this:
Step 4: The blur: (Aka, my favorite thing. lol.)
Copy merged and paste as a new layer. On the new layer, apply a Gaussian Blur.
--Adjust>Blur>Gaussian Blur--
Depending on the image and how much of a glowy thing you want, you can use a radius of anywhere from 2-15. I think mine was set about 2 or 3 for this. You should get something very pretty like this:
Part II
Ready to form Voltron!…um…never mind.
Step 1: Copy Merged on the image you just prepped.
Step 2: On the texture base you created earlier, go to your layer palette and highlight the bottomlayer. Now paste as a new layer so the picture ends up between the bottom texture and the one above it. You should now have this, which I happen to think is quite a lovely icon on its own:
.
Step 7 Resize the image to 70 %. If it needs to be sharpened, do so, and you're done.